Big Bend Station

Big Bend Station is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by TECO Energy near Apollo Beach, Florida.

On July 26, 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it had partnered with Siemens for a pilot carbon capture and storage project at the plant.

Plant Data

 * Owner: Tampa Electric Company
 * Parent Company: TECO Energy
 * Plant Nameplate Capacity: 1,823 MW
 * Units and In-Service Dates: 446 MW (1970), 446 MW (1973), 446 MW (1976), 486 MW (1985)
 * Location: 13031 Wyandotte Rd., Apollo Beach, FL 33572
 * GPS Coordinates: 27.797444, -82.405194
 * Coal Consumption:
 * Coal Source:
 * Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

 * 2006 CO2 Emissions: 11,760,766 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions: 13,977 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
 * 2006 NOx Emissions: 30,714 tons
 * 2005 Mercury Emissions: 137 lb.

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the Big Bend Station
In 2010, Abt Associates issued a study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, quantifying the deaths and other health effects attributable to fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma-related episodes and asthma-related emergency room visits, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, peneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal-fired power plants. Fine particle pollution is formed from a combination of soot, acid droplets, and heavy metals formed from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and soot. Among those particles, the most dangerous are the smallest (smaller than 2.5 microns), which are so tiny that they can evade the lung's natural defenses, enter the bloodstream, and be transported to vital organs. Impacts are especially severe among the elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease. Low-income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted as well, due to the tendency of companies to avoid locating power plants upwind of affluent communities.

The table below estimates the death and illness attributable to the Big Bend Station. Abt assigned a value of $7,300,000 to each 2010 mortality, based on a range of government and private studies. Valuations of illnesses ranged from $52 for an asthma episode to $440,000 for a case of chronic bronchitis.

Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the Big Bend Station
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011

Coal Waste Site

 * Big Bend Station North Bottom Ash

Citizen groups

 * Big Bend Climate Action Team
 * Conservancy of Southwest Florida
 * Environment Florida
 * Florida Wildlife Federation
 * Save It Now, Glades
 * Sierra Club Florida Chapter

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Florida and coal
 * TECO Energy
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming